Charging apparatus for blast-furnaces.



H. D. WILLIAMS & W AHLEN.

CHARGING APPARATUS FOR BLAST FURNACES.

APPLIOATION TILED 0013.10, 1907.

4 Patented Nov. 10, 1908.

6 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

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CHARGING APPARATUS FOR BLAST FURNACES.

APPLICATION FILED O(,"1.10, 1907.

Patented Nov. 10, 1908.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

2M; 4 4% 4 MM V H. D. WILLIAMS '6; W. AHLEN.

CHARGING APPARATUS FOR BLAST FURNACES.

APPLICATION TILED 0GT.10, 1907. QUSAQS. Patented Nov. 10, 1908. 5 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

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WITNE$SES ma -$1M;

H. D. WILLIAMS & W. AHLEN.

CHARGING APPARATUS FOR BLAST FUBNAGES.

Nv a QM APPLICATION FILED 0GT.10, 1907.

'NVENTORS UNITED STATES rarer OFICE.

HOMER D. WILLIAMS AND WILLIAM AHLEN, OF DUQUESNE, PENNSYLVANIA.

CHARGING APPARATUS FOR BLAST-FURNACES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed October 10, 1987. Serial No. 396,763.

Patented Nov. 10, 1908.

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that we, HOMER D. WILLIAMS and WILLIAM AHLEN, both of Duquesne, Al-

- legheny county, Pennsylvania, have inventforming part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a plan view showing the conveyer forming part of this invention in position relative to the stock bins and the scale car track; Fig. 2 is a sectional side elevation showing the apparatus as it is' arran ed with relation to the foot or lower end 0 the inclined track or skip hoist leading to the top of the furnace; Fig. 3 is a sectional plan view on a larger scale showing a detail of the turning mechanism on which the stock carriers or buckets are rotated on the conveyer;

.Fig. 4 is a plan view showing a modified form of conveyor; Fig. 5 is a sectional side elevation on the line V -V of Fig. 4 and Fig. 6 is a sectional side elevation on the lines VIVI of Fig. 4.

Our int ention relates to apparatus employed in charging stock into blast furnaces, and the object of our invention is to provide an improved apparatus by the use of which a more uniform distribution is secured of the materials forming the stock charged into the furnace, and the difficulties incident to the poor or irregular distribution obtained by the apparatus heretofore used are avoided and are overcome.

Another object of our invention is to provide apparatus which is arranged to distribute the stock at the base of the furnace and before it is hoisted to the furnace top, and in this Way effect the relative distribution of the coarse and fine materials at a point where it is under the eye of the operator.

A further object of the invention is to provide apparatus in which the distributing mechanism is removed from the top of the furnace where it is subject to excessive heat, and is diflicult of access, and where it is also subject to disarrangement or breakage on account of the frequent slips or explosions which occur in such furnaces, and to locate this distributing apparatus in position to be easily and quickly ins eeted and repaired.

In blast furnace c arging a paratus as constructed heretofore, the stoc distributing apparatus has always been located at the top of the furnace, and the distributing of the coarse lumpy material and the finer ma terial forming each charge has been done after these materials have been hoisted to the top of the furnace.

In the drawings, referring to Figs. 1, 2 and 3, 2 represents spouts or chutes on the stock bins, and 3 the rotary conve'yer on which the stock buckets or carriers 4 are transferred between the scale car track and the foot of the skip hoist or inclined track 6 upon which the carriers 4 are hoisted to the top of the furnace.

The materials to be chared into the furnace are loaded into the ore lorry or scale car track, this track extending in front of the stock bins having the chutes or spouts 2.

The conveyer 3 is rotatably mounted below the level of the scale car track and beneath the foot or bottom of the inclined track 6, being arranged so as to carry the buckets 4 between the point below the scale car track rails 5 at which the carriers or buckets are filled, and the point at which the buckets are in position to be engaged. by the these buckets are hoisted upon the inclined track 6 to the top of the furnace.

The usual blast furnace practice is to not weigh the coke after it is placed in the coke bins, and as shown in the drawings, the coke bins are located so that the chutes or spouts 10 on these bins discharge directly into the stock carriers or buckets 4, and it not being necessary to provide for a uniform distribution of the coarser and finer pieces of coke forming each charge of coke, provision is not made for rotating or oscillating the coke buckets or carriers 4 on the conveyer 3 while they are being moved between the coke spouts to the inclined track 6.

The conveyer 3 consists of an upper section 3 and a lower section 3' which are arranged so as to be rotated or turned at different speeds, and on the upper section 3 are supports 11 011 which the stock buckets 4 are removably placed. Part of the supports 11 are rotatably secured on the upper conveyor them will revolve or oscillate as the conveyor sections are turned back and forth in carrying theseveral stock buckets 4 between the foot of the inclined track 6 and the point at trolley hook 8 on the trolley 9 by which 7 which runs upon the rails 5 of the scale car section 3 so that the buckets mounted upon which these buckets are filled. The lower section 3 of the conveyor 3 is provided with track wheels 12 which run upon the rails 13 forming the circular track for the conveyor; and the upper conveyor section 3 is provided with track wheels 15 these wheels running upon track surfaces provided on the upper face of the lower conveyor SeCl 1OIl 3 The upper face of the lower conveyor section 3 is also provided with two annular grooves or recesses which are of irregular contour, as will be seen by reference to Fig. 3, for a purpose hereinafter explained.

The lower conveyor section 3 is pivotally mounted on the vertical pivot shaft 18, and the upper section 3* is secured so as to rotate about the pivot formed by the hub 19 of the lower conveyor section 3*. On the periphery of each conveyor section 3, 3 are spur gear teeth 20 and 21, forming spur wheels which mesh with and are driven by the spur gear wheels 22 and 23 on the vertical shaft 24. The spur wheel 23 is also in mesh with the spur pinion 25 on the intermediate driving shaft 26, and on the lower end of the shaft 26 is a bevel gear wheel 27 which meshes with and is driven by the bevel pinion 28 forming part of the slow down gearing on the conveyor driving motor 29. The diameters of the spur gear wheels 20 and 21 differ so as to rotate the upper section 3"* ofthe conveyor at a different speed from that of the lower section 3 As shown in the drawings part of the stock buckets or carrier supports 11 are arranged so as to be rotated on the conveyor when the conveyor is revolved, the other supports 11 only turning with the conveyor about the axis of the conveyor. The rotatable supports 11 are provided with suitable shafts 30 which are mounted in bearings 31 on the upper conveyor section 3*, and these supports are also provided with anti-friction rollers or Wheels 32 which run upon the top surface of the upper conveyor section 3", and on which the independently rotatable bucket supports 1 1 are carried and rotated. The lower end of each, of the vertical shafts 30 is provided with a spur pinion 33, and these pinions mesh with the segmental gears 34 which are pivoted on the pins 35 to the upper conveyor section 3 Intermediate of the teeth 34 and the pivot end of the segmental gears 34 is a stub shaft or pin 36 having an anti-friction roller 36 projecting downwardly into the slots 16 and 17 which are in the top surface of the lower conveyor section 3 In the modified form of conveyor shown in Figs. 4, 5 and 6, an upper conveyor section 37 and lower conveyor section 37 are mounted upon the vertical pivot shaft 38.

The upper conveyor section 37 a is provided with track wheels 39 which run upon the rails 40, forming the circular track below the conveyor, and the lower conveyor section '37 is also provided with track wheels 41',

which run upon the circular track rail 42. A driving motor 43 is mounted upon the upper conveyor section 37 and is connected by means of slow down caring 44 with a vertical shaft 45. The ower end of the shaft 45 is rovided with a s ur pinion.46, the" teeth of which mesh with the teeth in the internal gear 47 secured to the base plate 48 on which the conveyor track rails 40, 42

are mounted. The u per end of the vertical shaft 45 is provi ed with a s ur pinion 49 which meshes with a spur whee 50 on the meshes with the spur gear 53 on the peri hery of the lower conveyor section 37 he two annular grooves 54 and 55, these grooves being of irregular contour.

The supports 11 for the buckets 4 are mounted upon the vertical shaft 56 so as to rotate upon this shaft, these rotatable supports 11 being provided with anti-friction rollers 57 which run upon the upper surface of the upper conveyor section 37. On the lower end of theshaft 56 is a spur pinion 58 which meshes with the teoth59 in the segmental racks 59. are pivoted on the up er conveyor section 37*, and one end of tieseracks 59 is pro vided with a stub shaft or pin 60 having anti-friction rollers 61 which project downwardly into the annular grooves 54 or 55.

Part of the supports 11 for the buckets 4 are 1 vertical shaft 51, and the lower end of this shaft is provided with a pinion 52 which lower r "nveyer section 37 is provided with The segmental racks 59 i The apparatus is arranged in each form of conveyor so as to always bring the handles 4 in the proper position to be engaged by the trolley hook 8 when the bucket reachesthe position below the inclined track 6.

Part or all of the. buckets 4 are mounted upon supports 11 so as to rotate each bucket 1 on its own axis as the bucketsiare carried by the conveyor between the scale car ,7 and. the inclined track 6.

The grooves 16 and 17 have an irregular contour,.and these grooves are so arranged.

that as the buckets 4 reach the position at which they are engaged by the trolley hook 8, the segmental rack 34 through the pinion 33 and shaft 30 on the carrier 11 has rotated these buckets through at least a part of arevolution, so as to bring each bucket and I its contents in to a different position in avertical fixed plane to that of the preceding bucket.

has been again placed in position on the car rier 11, it finally reaches. the position After the empty bucket has been; returned from thetop of the furnace, and i which it is again filled, and this position is different with regard to the last position of the empty bucket beneath the car,- owing to the arrangement of the irregular grooves 16 and 17, in the lower conveyor section 33, and the rotating mechanism operated by these grooves.

In the apparatus shown in Figs. 4, 5 and 6, as the conveyor is rotated by the motor 43,- the upper conveyor section 37 travels at a slower rate of speed than the lower conveyer section 37 this being effected by rea-. son of the different diameters of the driving gears for each section. As the conveyer sec tion 37 travels slower than the section 37", the segmentalracks 59 will be oscillated by means of the stub shafts or pins 60 which proj ect downwardly into the annular grooves 54 and 55, and the teeth tl on these racks by engagement with the gears 58 rotate the shafts 56 and carriers 1.1 so as to turn the buckets 4 which are mounted upon the rotatable carriers 11. The grooves 54 and 55 are arranged so as to cause the racks 59 and the connecting mechanism to turn the bucket-s 4 each on its own vertical axis, and bring these buckets into a different position. beneath the inclined track 6 from that of the preceding position when it was filled. In this way the materials are loaded twice in the bucket 4 in the same position only after a large number of times of filling. The conveyer shown in Figs. 4, 5 and 6 is lapt ed to be used in place of the conveyers shown in the preceding figures, and the apparatus used in. supplying the materials and taking the materials from the conveyer are the same in both cases.

in the operation of our improved apparatus, the ore or other materials are delivered in weighed quantities into the scale car 7 enough materials being loaded on this car to fill a number of the stock buckets 4 and the caris then shifted on the track rails 5 so as to bring it above the conveyer 3 into position to discharge a portion of its contents into the stock buckets 4 they are successively brought to the proper location'by the rotation of the conveyer. As the buckets 4 are carried on the conveyer 3, they are retated each on its own axis, the rotation of the buckets while being conveyed between the scale car 7 and the points at which the buckets are engaged by the trolley hook 8 differing from each other and also differing in the angle of rotation of the individual buckets, each bucket being brought into the same angular position beneath the scale car the secondtime only after a large number of revolutions of the conveyer. As the buckets 4 are brought into position below the inclined tracks 6, they are engaged by the trolley hook 8 on the trolley 9 and are successively hoisted to the top of the furnace, Where they are emptied of their contents which are deposited '.in the furnace hopper. The hook 8 on the trolley 9 alwa s lifts the buckets 4 and deposits them in t e position to be emptied in the same axial position and as the contents of the'buckets are discharged in an annular sheet through the bottom of the buckets the relative positions in the fur nace of the coarse, lumpy materials and the finer materials is determined by their relative positions in each bucket. As each bucket occupies a position relative to that which it occupies when it is lifted from the conveyor, which position is different each time the bucket is filled, it will be seen that the coarse materials in each charge are discharged into the furnace in a different angular position in a vertical plane to that of the preceding bucket, resulting in an equal distribution o f'tlie coarse and fine materials in the interior of the furnace. After each 5 bucket has been hoisted by the trolley 9 to the top of the furnace and has been emptied, it is returned to the foot of the incline 6 and again depositied on the support 11 on the conveyer 3.

The advantages of our invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Instead of attempting to uniformly distribute the materials at the top of the furnace, these materials are distributed at the base of the furnace where the effect of the distribution can be observed by the operatives, and where it can be easily and quickly changed if found necessary. Instead of having the distributing mechanism at the top of the furnace where it is subject to excessive heat, and is liable to be disarranged by any of the numerous slips or explosions which occur in such furnaces, this apparatus is located in position to be easily andqiiickly re iaired. Instead of the inde endent stock buckets or carriers shown, stoc carriers having bottom discharge devices may be emplo ed, and the materials may be deposited in t ese carriers instead of lifting the carriers from the conveyer and hoisting them to the top of the furnace, and other modifications in the construction and arrangement of the parts may be made without departing from our invention.

What We claim is 1. Blast furnace char ing apparatus, com prising stock carriers in which the materials are hoisted and charged into the furnace tep and mechanism arranged to distribute the contents and vary the relative location of coarse and fine materials in the successive carriers preparatory to hoistin them to the furnace top; substantially as described.

2. Blast furnace charging a paratus comprising stock carriers arranged to be lifted to the top of a furnace, means arran ed to brim the'carriers into position to be li 'ted to the Furnace top and mechanism arran ed to distribute thecontents and vary the re ative carriers,

- the furnace, a bucket & I

, position of cparse and fine materials in the successive carriers preparatory to lifting them to the furnace top; substantially as described.

3. Blast furnace charging apparatus com prising mechanism for distributing the materials forming the charge in bottom discharge a trolleyarranged to hoist said carriers to the top of the furnace, and means arranged to distribute the contents of the carriers so as to vary the relative location of coarse and fine materials in the successive carriers preparatory to hoisting them on said trolley; substantially described.

4; Blast furnace charging apparatus com prising mechanism for distributing the materials forming the charge in bottom discharge carriers at the bottom of the furnace, and means for hoisting the carriers to the top of the furnace, and spreading the charge by dropping through the bottom of the carrier into the furnace hopper; substantially as'described.

5. Blast furnace charging apparatus cornrising a stock hoisting device leading to the urnace top, means located at the bottom of the hoisting device for delivering stock carriers in position to be engaged by the hoisting device, and mechanism adapted to vary the position of successive charges of stock in the carriers relative to the fixed vertical lane in which the carriers are lifted by the misting device; substantially as described.

6. Blast furnace charging apparatus com prising an inclined track leading to the top of able on said track, a rotary conveyer at the base of the furnace, means for actuating the conveyer to bring the buckets into position to be engaged by said trolley, and means for rotating the least one of the buckets on said conveyer; substantially as described.

7. Blast furnace charging apparatus comprising an inclined track leaning to the top of the furnace, a bucket elevating trolley movable on said track, a rotary coi'iveyer at the base of the furnace, bucket supports on-said conveyer, means for rotatingsaid conveyer to transfer the buckets between the point at which they are filied and are engaged by said trolley, and mechanism for rotating on the conveyer at least one of said bucket supports, andbuckets about the vertical axis of the bucket; substantially as described.

8. Blast furnace charging apparatus comprising an inclined track leading to the top of the furnace, a bucket elevating trolley movable on said track, a stock bucket, means elevating trolley movits engagement with said trolley; substanl between the successive lifting operations substantially as described.

10. In blast furnace charging apparatus, l the combination with a bucket elevating troll ley leading tothe furnace top, of a rotary conveyer at the foot of the inclined track, a stock bucket rotatably mounted. on the conveyer, means for actuating the conveyer to bring the bucket into position for engagement with the trolley, and mechanism for l rotating the bucket on said conveyer; substantially as described.

11. In blast furnace charging apparatus, the combination with a bucket elevating trolley on which materials are ho's ed to the top of the furnace, of a rotary conveyer, a stock bucket rotatably mounted on the conveyer, l means for actuating the conveyer to bring the bucket into position i or engagement with the trolley, and mechanism for automatically rotating the bucket on the conveyer l While moving the conveyer to transfer said bucket toward and away from the foot of said. track; substantially described.

12-. Blast furnace charging apparatus comprising a bucket elevating trolley arranged to hoist the buckets to the top of the furnace, a rotary conveyer at the foot of the inclined track, first conveyer, means for actuating the conveyers to bring the buckets into and out of position to be engaged by said trolley, and,

a bucket conveyer movable on the rotate at least one bucket on said bucket conveyer; substantially as described.

13. Blast furnace charging apparatus comprising a bucket elevating trolley arranged to hoist the buckets to the top of the blast furnace a conveyerbeneatb the trolley, a series of bottoin discharge stock buckets removably mounted on said conveyer, means for actue ating the conveyer to bring the buckets intc and out of position to be engaged by the trolley, and mechanism for rotating at least one of said buckets on said conveyer while the conveyer is moved in bringing successive buckets beneath the trolley; substantially as described.

In testimony whereof We have hereunto set our hands.

i-IQMER I). IVILLIAMS. WILLIAM AIILEN.

GEORGE L. New,

l Witnesses:

i H. G. SAYLOR. 

